Restoration of impaired motor and speech functions in elderly and senile patients after cerebral stroke

Restoration of impaired motor and speech functions in elderly and senile patients after cerebral stroke

Stolyarova L.G.; Tkacheva G.R.; Shokhor Trotskaya M.K.

Vestnik Akademii Meditsinskikh Nauk SSSR (12): 11-14

1980

Of 2100 patients who had sustained a stroke resulting in spastic hemiparesis and aphasia and who were followed-up, 620 were aged over 60 yr. The restoration of impaired motor functions was studied in 590 of the patients. These functions restored better and more rapidly in patients of the older age groups, which is accounted for by the fact that the mechanisms of stroke development in young persons (hemorrhage and thrombosis) are different than in elderly individuals (stenosis with cerebrovascular insufficiency). Speech was restored to a lesser degree in patients of the older age groups because the restoration of speech requires the recovery of psychologic functions (memory, attention, etc.) which are permanently impaired in advanced age.